September 11, 2001, Dan Lee was a passenger on Flight 55 out of Boston.  It never made it to Los Angeles.  He never made it home to see the birth of his second child.

I had the privilege of meeting his wife and daughters a couple of years later when I was invited to write Dan’s story. 

His friends told me that Dan loved to smile, loved to have a good time, and loved to help his friends.  He was working as a carpenter for the Back Street Boys at the time of his death, and he had toured with many other famous entertainers.  He was great at his job.  People loved him, but Dan was unconvinced of his own worth.  He was unwanted and abused as a child, and he was challenged by a poor self-esteem. 

Dan was a troubled human being, but through it all he found a way to reach his ambition of being around bands.  He enjoyed playing the drums, and he was a good drummer in local bands but never good enough for the main stage.  When he realized that his dream of touring the world as the drummer in a rock band wasn’t going to happen for him, he turned to his second love, carpentry.  That’s where he made his mark. 

He unwittingly used several silent communicators to sell himself to his demanding performers.  He knew that consistent excellence was something prized by successful artists, so he inspired his performance.  He was relentless on himself.  He drove himself to finish, to polish up, to be a craftsman in whatever he did.  He did whatever was necessary to ensure that he pulled through for the people for whom he worked.   No job was beneath him.  The silent message was clear:  “I want to be here.” 

“Pissbucket Boy” was one of his titles.  In the fast-paced rock shows that he was involved in the entertainers rarely left the stage.  When they needed to relieve themselves, well, they used a bucket that was at the back of the stage.  Dan’s job was to remove and replace the buckets.

On September 11, 2001 Dan was close to reaching his next dream, which was to be a head carpenter.  A world of opportunity was beginning to open for him.  But nothing was as important to him as his family.  That’s why after a late night gig in Toronto, Dan headed for Boston to catch an early morning flight to Los Angeles to be with his wife and the birth of their daughter.  Dan was a terrific salesman.  What he sold was himself.  And he sold himself to his family, to his friends, and to his employers through the silent communicators in performance, passion and love.